Sorry Mom

I put myself in a lot of danger this weekend. Several times.

We arrived in Livingstone, Zambia on December 26th. We began our "weekend" watching 2 of our travel mates bungee over the Victoria Falls. Can't say I will ever bungee jump. It looks absolutely terrifying. Also, this time last year an Australian girl had her bungee cord snap. Not only did she survive the impact, but she managed to dolphin kick her way through the rapids (legs still bound) and make her way to shore. Her name? Erin.
It's a bad omen.

Instead, I decided to test my adrenaline in a few other ways.

Lets start with Day 1. What was supposed to happen? Relaxation and organization. I was going to sleep in after our rambunctious sunset cruise, do laundry, check in on my finances, and organize my bags.
What actually happened? Did laundry, got attacked by monkeys, freaked out about rabies for the rest of the day.

After spending a good hour and a half hand scrubbing my laundry, I packed up and headed off to use the Internet. Ruan, one of our guides, had just woken up and was also heading to the bar. Just as we were leaving the campsite, I noticed a monkey and stopped to look at it. "Awwww look at the cute little monkey". WRONG.
Before I knew it the monkey had gotten way too close for comfort and another one was approaching from my left. I didn't really have anywhere to go because there was another one blocking my path. I felt a furry creature grab onto my right calf and that's when I really started to freak out. I kicked my legs and ran for Ruan while he ripped a branch of a tree and started swiping at them.
Turns out monkeys do not respond well to female humans. Even the highest ranking female monkey is below the lowest ranking male. Same goes for humans. They are also attracted to bright colors, and I had my bright pink phone case in my hand.

Moral of the story: Monkeys are FREAKY and are not to be reckoned with. I now walk everywhere with a sling shot. With that, even the slightest twitch of the arm will scare off a monkey.

So as I said, I spent the rest of the day wondering if I should seek rabies treatment. A fellow volunteer in Zanzibar had to get rabies treatment and it sounded like a horrible process. The difference between her and I- she actually got bit by a monkey. I did not. I've come to the consensus that I have nothing to worry about, especially since I've been assured that the monkeys at this campground are not ill, and if they were, they would have been kicked out of their group.

After a monkeyless sleep, day 2 was spent rafting on the mighty Zambizi! Now, I was seriously debating going for a lion walk or elephant ride instead, but as cool as that would have been, there's no way it could have topped our rafting experience. We started just below the falls and continued onwards through 25 rapids ranging from class 2 to class 5 (highest is 6). There was one class 6 rapid, but everyone got off and walked along the cliffs edge instead (I can also now say that I've been to Zimbabwe). A few crazy guides took the boats through, and even one of the kayakers went through. It was absolutely crazy watching them paddle through it.
The name of that rapid? Commercial suicide.

I would say we went through seven class 4 or 5 rapids. Somehow I managed to stay in the boat the whole time, while several others were blown out on the class 5 rapids. One of the girls lost her pants in the second set of rapids. We all erupted into laughter when she was pulled back into the boat with only her bathing suit bottoms left.

The craziest rapid had our boat stuck upright on a 60 degree angle for about 5 or 6 full seconds. Only 3 of us survived that rapid... Had to rescue the others once we got through it. The raft company put together a video so we could see just how crazy it was. All I remember is holding on for dear life and trying to find a good time to take a deep breath.

The guides also let us freestyle through a few rapids. I.e, we jumped in and swam through them. I managed to get myself stuck in a whirlpool for a while which was quite frightening... But aside from that it was really fun.

Day 3 - December 29th... The day I thought my life would end.

There's this little thing called the Devils Pool at Victoria Falls. I had heard about it months before my trip, and I was beyond stoked to hear that it would be possible to swim in it during our time here.
Before I talk about my devils pool experience, I need to give some background context.
The devils pool is this little pool of water that lies about 40 meters off of Livingstone island. It is somewhat sheltered from incoming water by a large rock, and there is another rock ledge right on the edge of the waterfall that keeps people from going over.
Normally people are able to walk through shallow water and make to the devils pool. But with the rising water level, we found out that we were going to have to swim strategically against the current in order to make it to the pool.
Now, Alicia and I booked our devils pool adventure for the 3rd and final day. Horrible idea. We had to listen to everyone else's horror stories as they returned from their day 1 and day 2 excursions.
The first group were the first to inform us on just how strong the current was. Jade, one of the girls, was carried downstream (towards the waterfall) quite a bit at one point because she forgot to look up and keep her eye on the mark. The guide had to jump in and help her back.
The second group told us a lovely story about the family that joined them on the tour. Yes, a family with a 6 year old child. Apparently there was a lot of hysterical crying, but still, the parents put their son on the guides back and had him go across (!!!!??). Insanity.
The guides were so distracted by this hysterical family that they didn't end up paying much attention to the rest of our tour mates. Herman swam a little off course and smashed his hand on a rock, making it difficult to swim. Juli got a little dramatic and screamed at the guide to come help because he was "GONNA DIE!".
So after all these wonderful tales you might understand why I had a few nightmares the night before. I told myself that it was no big deal... We were basically just going for a nice boat ride and walk around Livingstone island. And if I felt like it, there would be the option to swim.
Well the day came and my stomach was in absolute knots. More than half of the 12 people on our tour backed out. But once I saw the first girl jump in with the guide I made the split decision to join in. The first leg of the journey was spent walking over a series of slippery rocks with the water rushing through our legs. At this point I realize just how strong the current was. No turning back now! The guide gave us a few words of direction and then we were off for a 15 meter sprint. I panicked of course, but made it safely to the first checkpoint. Next we did another 10 meter sprint and made it to a rock bed where we did a crab walk the rest of the way to the devils pool rock.
The rock ledge at the edge of the waterfall was completely submerged, but it was there nonetheless. The guy in our group jumped in first. I shimmied in shortly after, holding tightly onto the safety rope. The current was still quite strong in the pool, but I felt somewhat safe with the rope in hand and the guide standing on the ledge behind me. I sat at the edge for about 5 minutes until I headed back (I had had enough of the fish nibbling at my feet).
The swim back was worse. We had to swim directly up stream. I was fast and even ahead of the guide at time, but I was panicking and not breathing evenly. After what seemed like forever, we made it back to the halfway point. From there we swam diagonally across the current and back to the sharp slippery rocks. I kissed the ground when I saw it.
The tour guides had prepared us a breakfast of eggs benedict, scones, coffee, and juice, but I had almost zero appetite due to all the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

After the survival, Alicia and I commented to each other that if this were Niagra falls, swimming in it would be strictly out of the question.
We also found out that when the guide was throwing rocks into the water, he was not testing the current, he was checking for hippos (glad I did not know this at the time).

So those have been my last couple of crazy days! We were booked to do a flight over the falls this afternoon but it was cancelled due to the thunderstorm. Hopefully we can fit it in tomorrow morning before we leave for Botswana!

Ps on our way back to our campground we passed by a MASSIVE bull hippo. You can't really tell how big they are until they're out of water. This one had been kicked out of his group, so he is now all by himself. He had tons of fresh wounds all over his body. Here's a pic!

Other pics:
Me and my protector, the river god.
Alicia swimming in the "Angel pool", her version of the devils pool.
The bungee bridge! It's in no-mans land between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Merry Christmas!

Belated Merry Christmas to you all!

We spent Christmas Eve at a campground in Chipata, a city just beyond the Zambia/Malawi border. Our site was located out of town right next door to a cotton factory.

After another fantastic South African meal, we spent the evening at the campsite bar chatting, listening to more Xmas tunes, saving a Praying Mantis from its suicide mission, and drinking Mosi, Zambia's local beer.

We woke up on Christmas day at 4:30am, not because we were excited to see what santa had left us, but instead to pack up in time for our 6 am departure. We sleepily rolled up our tents and dished up our breakfast. No smoked salmon eggs benny this year... Instead, a cup of coffee and pb&j.

Stopped in a sleepy town to stretch our legs and check out the weaved baskets and hats. Wouldn't have even known that it was christmas. But perhaps the villagers were saving their celebrations for an evening feast? Or maybe they don't celebrate Christmas.

After 8 or 9 hours of driving we stopped in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, to find a grocery store.
Lusaka has a lot of western influence and you can tell it has money. It has the fastest growing economy in all of Africa. We went from driving through mud hut villages to shopping at a super mall with Mercedes' and VW Beatles parked in the lot, and billboards for fitness centers overhead. I could also hear a lot of people speaking English to each other. At one point a fashionable young lady approached a swaggered out little boy looking at a wooden bird mobile. She said "hey Jaden do you like that? I'll buy it for you if you want it." It was so weird to hear someone say that here. 1) because it was all in English even though they were Zambian, and 2) because impromptu, materialistic gift giving is not something that I have seen a lot of in Africa.

Our Christmas campsite was pretty cool! Zebras and impalas were grazing next to our tents, and monkeys were hopping along nearby.
There were also several Zambian families hosting christmas barbecue parties in neighboring campsites.

Ruan and Vern cooked up another delicious feast of steak, mushroom sauce, squash, potatoes, garlic bread, salad, and fruit and custard for desert. Our dinner was complete with table settings and candle light. We are so spoiled.

Even though Santa had a hard time finding us (what without a chimney and all), Alicia and I were still able to swap some small presents. Her mom had even packed a small stocking in for each of us! So sweet of her.

So even with the 10 hours of driving, the wildlife and festive dinner definitely made it a really cool Christmas.

In Livingstone now... Much more to come! That is, if I survive the monkeys.

Kande, Mel Gibson, Slim Shady, Weddings, and Christmas parties

We spent the last 2 nights at Kande beach, an awesome campsite located about halfway down lake Malawi. The campsite is run by a British guy that used to run overland tours. He liked to take his groups bush camping at Kande beach, so one day he decided to work with the locals and open up an official campground. The site has turned into a huge source of income and livelihood for the residents of the village, Mbamba. Many work in the campsite itself, doing maintenance, cleaning, reception, bartending, serving, security, tours, etc, while others get their income from selling their carvings and artwork to visitors.
Mbamba is probably the friendliest village I've ever been to. The people are so grateful and proud of what they have, and they LOVE to talk with visitors to practice their English (which is already fantastic).

The first night at Kande we had ourselves a little Christmas party. We will be traveling for 10+ hours on the 25th, so we decided to celebrate early on the beautiful shores of Kande beach. We had stopped at a market the day previous to pick up some crazy outfits... I dressed up as a Christmas present and Alicia a snow princess. Also in the group was a reindeer, a penguin, and a Hugh Hefner Santa.
In short, the party was awesome. We sipped on a deadly fruit punch concoction and ate a South African egg and curry dish for dinner. We Sang carols, danced at the bar (and on the bar), played foosball, went for a midnight dip in the lake of stars, and chatted with other overlanders.

When I woke up that night to the sound of rain pouring onto our tent, I could fall back asleep knowing that the cover was going to keep us dry this time.

Next morning some of us headed out for a village tour. Our tour guide was none other than Mel Gibson. While he was our main guide, we were also swarmed by about 10 other local guys. A young guy with flashy sunglasses and converse shoes paired up with me and introduced himself as Slim Shady. it was nice to have a local guy to chat casually with. I was able to learn a lot more about the village that way... And I also had a chance to learn a little chichewa and tanga!
Mel Gibson showed us the well pumps that were donated by Canadians. Before the wells, people were getting their drinking water from the lake. Consequently there was an abundance of water borne illnesses and deaths in the community. Any time I talked to someone in the community they brought up the wells and how much they love them (and Canadians!)
Mel Gibson also walked us up to a local school and clinic. We checked out the school library which had a ton of donated books from around the world. I learned that secondary school isn't "free" in Malawi like it is in Tanzania (I use quotations because it still costs money to go to school even though its called free). I'm curious to know what the graduation rate is here...
The clinic was pretty bare bones. No patients were really there at the time. I think it's mostly used as a maternity facility since there's only 1 nurse and 1 clinical officer. The 1 doctor for the region only visits Mbamba once a month and will have upwards of 40 people waiting to see him.
Later on we sat down for a traditional meal of eggs tomatoes, and rice. It's apparently really popular around Christmas time. While we waited for it to be prepared, Slim Shady taught me how to play Bao (mankala).
Slim Shady is also an artist and carver so I got him to paint me a map of Africa with all the countries that I will be visiting. Love it!
While walking through the village we noticed that there were a lot of well dressed people walking by us. Slim said they were on the way to a wedding and he could take me if I wanted to see it. Heck yes! I never got to see a Tanzanian wedding so I wasn't about to pass up this opportunity. Slim and I walked for about 40 minutes through the farmland until we got to the neighboring village where the wedding was taking place. As we got closer we could hear the music getting louder and louder. I couldn't believe how many people were there! Probably about 1,000. Slim said there were 3,000 but I think his estimation was slightly off. There was an MC that was calling different groups up to present their gifts to the bride and groom. People would emerge from the crowd and slowly dance up to the couple, tossing money into the air as they went. Slim said that they would probably get 250,000 kwacha from everyone (roughly 750 dollars). The couple also received a cooler box, some water buckets, and various other gifts. I also got to go up and give my gift, which was the red dress that I wore as part of my Christmas costume. When the bride receives gifts she gets down on both knees, bows her head and takes the gift with both hands.
Unfortunately we missed the ceremonial part of the wedding, where the bride is unveiled to the groom. Traditionally, a groom and bride are not meant to know each other before their wedding day. The groom is supposed to tell his uncle that he wants a bride with x qualities, so off the uncle goes in search for the right girl. On the wedding day, she is wrapped In a sarong and unveiled to the groom, who has paid her family $150 and various livestock. He also needs to have a house ready for them to move into. Things however are changing, and many people will date before marriage, as this couple apparently did.
Most men get married in their early 20s, while girls may get married as early as 18. I told Slim that he better start looking, which of course led him to suggesting that we get married. But he said that he'd have to make sure I can make a good trench and kasava mound first. Jokes on him. I can't even get stains out of my clothes.

The clock struck 5 and I told Slim that I had to start heading back to make it home in time for our pig roast dinner. He took us on a short cut, I asked why we didn't take the short cut the first time around. He said it was because he wanted to take me on a more scenic route... so thoughtful! He also commented on how nice it was that I was getting out and checking out the village instead of hanging around in a hammock all day... I would definitely agree! I learned a lot and had a ton of fun.

So slim and I said our goodbyes and I headed off to indulge in our pig roast, kasava leaves, rice, and beans. So tasty! Reminded me of being back in Morogoro.

Most of our group decided to take it easy for the second night. But Alicia, juli and I wanted to check out the source of the music that had been drifting into our campsite. It turned out that a cell phone company was dancing the night away at their christmas party. We joined in, learned some new dance moves, joined a couple conga lines, and found one of the other guys from the village tour that morning. It was fun... Dancing is for sure one of my favorite things to so here!

Today we packed up and made our way to our current location, Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. And tomorrow we go to Zambia!
Livingstone here I come..... Too many activities, so little time (and money)

From Tanzania to Malawi

Well the camping has begun! I don't even know what day it is... but I think we've been on the road now for 5 or 6 days. We left Zanzibar on Monday and started making our way inland. The highway from Dar to our first campsite ran right through Mikumi national park, so we got to see giraffes and several herds of elephants (finally!!). Also saw buffalo, impala, warthogs, zebras, and baboons. We set up just outside of the park at a small camp site. Also got to go for an easy run with Juli through town... Nice to see a bit of the village instead of staying cooped up in our campground.

Started the next day at 5:30 to the sound of roosters and ducks cawing away. No alarm clock needed. After a breakfast of coffee, egg, toast, and Nutella, we packed up and hit the Road.

On our way to Iringa we passed through several roadside towns and villages. The highway also runs through a place aptly named baobab valley.

Baobabs are gigantic, very strange looking trees. They live to be very old. The oldest known baobab is 3,500 years!! We will be camping near it when we get to Botswana.
The wood of the tree is too fibrous to be used for construction, but some people carve them out to use as houses, jails, bars, etc. You know rafiki in lion king? He lived in a baobab. (Also, rafiki in Swahili means friend).

Baobabs are also useful for collecting fresh rainwater. They make nice hollow homes for bees, and the bark is traditionally chewed by pregnant women to help for a healthy baby.

There is a rumour that if a baobab falls, it will self combust because of all the decomposing activity. Just a rumour for now... Our guide hasn't seen it with his own eyes. And I've seen several un-charred baobabs lying on their sides.....

I keep calling baobabs trees, but apparently they don't fall within that classification. They are just very, very large plants. The trunk is a light greyish material, helping the plant reflect light and heat, and helping it retain water.

The fruit of the baobab is small and Is often sold in candied form. We bought it in Morogoro but didn't realize what we were eating at the time. It's mostly pit, with a soft coating surrounding it. The Taste is sour, kind of citrusy. Tastes kind of like dried apple. Not many on our tour liked it... But I do!
Apparently one little seed /fruit contains more vitamin C than 2 oranges!

Anyway... Enough about baobabs.
Our drive also included a climb through a mountain pass nicknamed truckers graveyard. The rock lining the roadway was covered with names of all the men that had died there. You'd think that truckers would learn to be a little more careful over time, but there were still men barreling their gasoline trucks along the narrow winding roads at insane speeds.

Despite the bad name, the climb through the mountain pass was spectacular. Its part of the Ruah valley, which is rich with lush forest and wildlife. The Ruah river also runs through, which harbours crocs and hippos. Unfortunately we couldn't see any from the truck as we drove by. Drove through another valley in Iringa that had thousands of boulders resting on the hillsides... I thought they were glacier deposits, but Vern, our guide, explained that they were just formed by erosion.

That night we stopped just outside of Iringa to camp on a farm. The group of us went on a small adventure to find a lake, only to find a swamp. It was a wet night, and the first time I've felt cold in 2 months! It was nice to feel cozy in my sleeping bag. And the Mosquitos didn't bother us either!

The next day started at 4:30. Left our site at 6am. We cut through the mountainous south west enroute to Malawi. Had to make a pit stop about 15 mins into our drive because a few people thought they heard the campsite cat somewhere in the truck. We checked the cabin and then the luggage compartments... No cat. We think it may have just been the sound of someone's iPhone getting charged.
I would have loved to have had a cat along for the ride (same with Rita, our tours resident granny and cat lady... 70 years young!)

Around 12 o'clock we made a stop near the border for lunch, and by 1:15 we had all cleared immigration and were hitting the Malawian highway and headed for Chitumba. Our next campsite was on Lake Malawi, one of Africas largest lakes at 48,000 square kilometers. Its also known as the calendar lake because its 364 miles in length and 52 miles across.

The lake is known to have a type of parasite that can penetrate your skin in stagnant water. But apparently the area where we were doesn't have the parasite, so i decided to take a chance.The water was as warm as the ocean in Jambiani, but not quite as easy to float in.

That night after a couple glasses of wine, I was lying in my tent watching the lighting flash in the distance. The thought of putting the extra tarp (fondly called a condom) crossed my mind, but Alicia and I decided we would take our chances and enjoy the nice cross-breeze.
Well the breeze turned into windstorm and the lighting got a whole lot closer. We woke up at midnight to the sound of thunder and rain pounding down on our tent. It was as if Alicia and I had been training for this moment for years. Without a word of discussion, we simultaneously leapt out of the tent and tended to our respective window covers. Completely drenched, we fell back asleep on our wet mattresses and sleeping clothes. 2 hours later we woke up again, this time to the swimming pool that had formed inside our tent. We were unaware that the window flaps had zippers, so Alicia's had flown open during her slumber and had let in a huge amount of water. We decide it was time to use a condom. So out we got again in the torrential downpour. This time I took my pants off, hoping to keep them dry. So there we were, outside in the torrential downpour and wind storm, pantless, with only the lighting flashes to guide our efforts. The lighting was directly above us now, so we did a half-assed job and retreated to the "safety" of the tent, this time even more wet than before.
I was lucky in that my sleeping bag had survived the swimming pool. Alicia... Not so much. We had a very wet sleep.

Next morning we packed up and headed towards another part of the lake... Kande beach. Passed through another sketchy mountain pass. It was almost empty, but Raun, our driver was honking the whole way, trying to make our presence known beyond each 70 degree turn.

One downside to Malawi are all the police checks. Usually they just want to know where you're going and if your vehicle is in good condition... But you never know when they'll want to do a full check. On our way to Kande beach, one policeman wanted to check our bags and passports. Vern says he probably just wanted to get on board and say hello to the mzungus. I suspect he also just wanted to have something to do, as working at a checkpoint doesn't seem like the most invigorating job.

The police checks cant possibly take away from the beauty of this place though. It is absolutely stunning here. Between the lake, the mountains and the dense green forests, I now know why Malawi is called the warm heart of Africa.

I <3 Zanzibar

We're currently on our way to Malawi, making pit stops in Mikumi and Iringa. but here is another belated post from Zanzibar.
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One of the first things i noticed about Zanzibar are the dala dalas. Zanzibar dala dalas are different than the ones on the mainland. They do have some of the mini bus variety, but the ones that we see in the rural areas have open backs and a closed cab up front. Wooden 2x4s enclose the bed and ceiling. I wanted to take a ride in one, but didn't have any time!

Another noticeable thing about the island is the general vibe that it emits. People in Zanzibar seem friendlier... If that's even possible. More likely to say jambo, more likely to start up conversation (without being creepy about it). However, I would argue that far too many people say Hakuna matata... I will be happy if I never have to hear that phrase ever again. It's a phrase meant for tourists... It's not something Tanzanians would normally say. I can picture in my head what it must be like at hospitality training school... "You must always say Hakuna matata"... I wonder if there is a daily hakuna matata quota that they need to fill.

Maybe the friendliness is due to zanzibar being a huge tourist destination... The locals must be much more used to seeing muzungus here than in a small town like Morogoro. But It just seems much more possible to make random friends here. Like those rasta guys in jambiani... And yesterday we made a friend while we were walking through Nungwi town. He was drawn in by Alicia's Maasai beads, so we introduced ourselves. Can't remember his name... Sounded like toilette. We mentioned that we wanted to eat local food, so he walked us over to a small hole in the wall restaurant where we got served ugali, coconut sauce, beans, mboga mboga, and for me, a dried out piece of fish. It was pretty tasty! The mboga mboga was cold but almost as good as Sophie's, and the coconut sauce was fantastic. Our meal for 2 only cost 5,500.... About $3.75 Now that's what I'm talking about.

Our toilette friend then took us on a tour through Nungwi and walked us down to the seaside fish market. We checked out some fishermen slicing up their catch, and then walked back to our hotel via the beach.
We promised toilette that we would come watch him play football later with his friends, so we did. While there, we got chatted up by another local (almost entirely in Swahili... Pretty proud of us!) and ran into one of the boat captains from our boat cruise the other night. Apparently the people here speak Swahili differently than mainlanders, but I wouldn't know any difference. When Irene was still with us, It was funny to see her struggle to understand what people were saying. (Not so easy to understand Swahili when you don't recognize it, is it?)

After that we went for a swim with toilette and a couple of his friends... Despite the awkward back-fat grabbing that occurred during our goodbye hug, he seemed genuinely sad to see us go.

Definitely going to miss Zanzibar and its hospitality. Being able to chat and hang with the locals has added a lot of depth to this adventure.

Only a couple more days left in Tanzania!! Ahh!

The G adventure begins...

Yesterday, Mirjam, Irene and I went snorkeling while Alicia went scuba diving. It was pretty lackluster since the reef was about 3 meters from the surface, but it was still pretty nice to be in the water. Have I mentioned that the water is 28 degrees?

That night we cabbed to stone town to meet Up with our g tour. We got in late so we missed most of the people... However we did meet one German girl who offered to walk us to the night market. I finally got to try Zanzibar pizza!!! The chefs make it by stretching out a small piece of dough and loading it with egg, a slice of laughing cow cheese, and your choice of topping. The chef then throws in on the grill and cooks it on both sides for about 5 minutes. It was scrumptious... I got 2: Veggie and chicken. Alicia tried the banana Nutella variety.
Also tried a luke warm samosa and piece of coconut bread. Definitely thought I was going to have a case of kuharisha the next day, but yet again, my iron bowels prevailed.

Next day we said our goodbyes to Mirjam and Irene. Saying goodbye to Irene was strange... We've had so many 'almost goodbyes' that it didn't feel like this one was real. Not sure when it will hit me that I don't get to see her again (at least not until I return to Tanzania!!).

Our tour group made our first stop at a spice plantation. It's definitely weird hanging out with a bunch of mzungus! We spent the last 2 months seeing hardly any white people... And here we are, now a part of a gigantic herd.

Last night we all boarded a dhow for a sunset cruise. Dhows are the wooden boats that Zanzibar is famous for. Some of us sat up front and played the instruments with the drummers. 2 months in Africa and i still don't have any rhythm. Got to swim around too... Tried Doing a flip and failed miserably. Felt like my back split open as it made contact with the water. Despite that incident, it was a really fun night.

Its been a strange shift in terms of swahili knowledge. Alicia and I have gone from knowing the least amount of Swahili in a group to knowing the most. The tour guides or staff that we come in contact with seem to be caught off guard at even a simple 'Asante' 'shikamo', or 'habari za leo'. It's definitely been a good conversation starter! People have been asking Alicia and I where we learned our Swahili. For example, I sprained my ankle last night, so while I sat at the bar icing it this morning, the bartender and I got to chatting about my time in Morogoro. He said he's been there too, hiked the ulugurus, and even stayed in the same neighborhood as me. Super nice guy... Said he'll be visiting Winnipeg for 2 months around Easter. He's going during the spring/winter because he wants to experience something different, maybe even learn to play ice hockey. I told him to pack warm pants and a parka...

So seeing the benefits of my small (Kidogo) Swahili knowledge is definitely encouraging me to prepare for the languages of Malawi, Zambia, and Namibia. Won't have to prepare so much for Botswana since its an English speaking country.

Im writing this as I sit in the pool. It's deserted because its raining today. Even heard some thunder off in the distance. It's nice to have a full day of relaxation. Time to rearrange and repack my 2 ginormous bags. Ill try to live out of only 1 for the rest of he trip and keep the other in storage.

That's all for now
Toodles

Zanzibarian nights

Tonight was probably one of my favorite nights in Africa so far! Mirjam, Irene and I headed to a restaurant next door to our hotel for some drinks and eats. Starfish restaurant is small and friendly... Everyone greeted us about 20 times. After pointing out where we come from on the world map, we settled into a table and ordered a plate of fried calamari. Mirjam also introduced me to konyagi, the local alcohol, which we mixed with sprite.

Got to playing some pool on a crooked table with some of the local guys at the bar. After about 30 minutes of losing, a good mix of people had started to form. Local zanzibarians, Maasai, Germans, and a couple mzungo girls that spoke excellent Swahili. Alicia also showed up around this time. After more pool playing and socializing, we convinced one of the guys to start up a bonfire outside. We all gathered around and sang (or attempted to sing, as many of the songs were in Swahili), while one of the guys played guitar and another drummed (Mirjam and I pitched in for a short time).

It was just so relaxing to sing and dance around the fire... And we were so lucky to have had the hospitality of those friendly young guys! They were probably the first group of guys I've met so far that didn't insist upon getting our contact info.

Bed time now! It's 1:30 am and I have to be up early to pack my stuff up! It's been a long day full of swimming, biking through bush-bush, and exploring caves. Tomorrow we're going snorkeling off a nearby reef... And after that, it's off to stone town where Alicia and I say goodbye to Irene and meet up with our GAP tour.

Lala salama! (Sleep nice)

Outreach, Playday, Zanzibar, Monkeys, Dolphins, Cats and more

WOW! What a crazy couple of weeks. I actually find myself saying that a lot. I know I said I was busy 3 weeks ago... but that was because I had no idea how busy future Erin would be. Here are a few highlights that we managed to accomplish between classes:

November 26 -  Made dinner for our homestay. We bought chicken, tons of vegetables  and fruit for desert. Our plan was to make chicken with spaghetti. Our plan foiled once we poured the tomato sauce into the pan that we had used to cook the chicken. Our thoughts were that the juices from the chicken would enhance the flavour of the sauce. What actually happened, is all the burnt charcoaly pieces of chicken mixed in with the sauce, creating a very bitter and burnt taste. We abandoned that sauce and started over. In the end we had pasta with tomatoes and herbs and the chicken. We also made some guacamole, but the avacados we bought were pretty bad. Regardless, the guac was a hit.
Disclaimer: We cooking using a single burner charcoal stove... for the first time. Brings a whole new meaning to slaving over a hot stove.
Since we were cooking dinner that day, Sophie had the afternoon off. She came home dressed head to toe in katanga. Katanga is the material that you find many women in East Africa wearing. Sophie looked so pretty! It was the first time I had seen her dressed up. She also had a little rat tail of braids forming... the first session of many. Later that week her whole head was completed.

November 27- After a day of lesson planning, Alicia and I headed to Morogoro pool for a swim with Norbet, Irene, and Edna. Norbert said he didn't know how to swim so we decided to try to teach him. We weren't the greatest teachers, but Norbert had fun regardless!
Sidenote: The 2 days we went swimming were the 2 days that Morogoro experienced cold weather.

November 28 - Between IT training and HBC we decided to visit a nearby orphanage. We picked up some school supplies and small toys to bring with us. I was hesitant to go in the first place, and I now realize I should have just trusted my intuition. My moral compass was spinning all different directions during this visit. While it was good to have brought some much needed supplies, I wasn't prepared for the reaction that the kids would have to our arrival. All of them, even the older ones, wanted to be held like babies. They were obviously experiencing serious lack of affection. It was really sad and overwhelming. The kids were really whiney and some even held tantrums... I haven't seen behaviour like that since Canada.
We would have been much better off just dropping off supplies and not saying hello to the kids. An orphanage isn't a zoo... I don't think people should be able to come in and leave after only 45 minutes of playing.

November 29th - IT was cancelled in the morning because the staff were all busy writing reports. We took this opportunity to cross another item off our bucket list: Get dresses made! We picked up some katanga fabric for about 12,000 tsh each, and then headed to Irene's seamstress to go over our dress designs. With 2 yards of fabric each, we were each able to construct 1 dress and 1 skirt. They took a few days to make, but were well worth it! I'll need to do some minor alterations when I get home, but overall I'm very happy with them... especially the skirt!
In the afternoon we had classes with UMATI and Girls Club. Most of the girls passed their final assessment, meaning they would be receiving certificates at our volunteers day ceremony.
After class we went back to our neighbourhood with Irene so we could chat with one of our neighbours. The neighbour we met with is the mother of a little boy that we see each morning on our front porch. Alfonso hasn't been going to school, so we wanted to inquire more into the matter. Turns out his mom is single and doesn't make much a day. She only has enough to afford to send one of his brothers (School is technically free, but there are other expenses like uniforms, lunch, and school supplies that make it unaffordable). We told her that we'd help her out with school payments for Alfonso and that we'd be back soon to drop off some food staples.

November 30 - Checked out a local government school to inquire about fees for Alfonso. Thanks to Irene, we were able to get quite a bit sorted out. After that we had our weekly meeting, then taxi'd out to Morogoro International School to check out their craft fair. We missed it by an hour or so, but we still got to take a look around the school. International schools are expensive and usually it's the ex-pat kids that attend them. The school facilities themselves were very different from what we saw at the local school that morning. The classrooms were much more warm and inviting. There were pictures, diagrams, and an abundance of learning materials on the walls and shelves.

Flash forward to 3 pm and we were setting up for 2nd outreach event with the UMATI YAM team! The event started with a soccer game between the Girls Club and UMATI. The game was a blast and even though the girls had never really played before, the score was only 4-0! Our goal keeper, Janet, got the MVP award at the end. Two YAM members MC'd while the game went on, giving HIV related information to the near 300 community members that showed up to watch the game. Even more people showed up after the game ended which was great because that's when the YAM members had their Q&A period. They also led a dance competition which was a raging success. We actually missed out on quite a bit of the dance competition because we had left with some of the Girls Club members to visit the Voluntary Councelling and Testing (VCT) service that UMATI had set up across the field. I was actually surprised how many girls and other community members had already come by to get tested. I think it takes a lot of courage to do that! The participants were mostly female, but at the end we saw a couple guys from UMATI getting their blood tested too.
After the dance competition ended it was time for some serious freestyling. The DJ let the music play and all 400 of us joined together for what I can confidently say was the best dance party of my life. And I've had some pretty good dance party times. My tri-pod friends are well aware of this fact.
Circles formed, duo's grinded, and singles danced around on their own. At one point, a bunch of YAM members grabbed the event banner and ran through the crowd waving it above everyone's heads. It was surreal... the energy, the laughter, the dance moves... I'll never forget it.

December 1st - World AIDS Day! The day finally came for the HBC ambassadors to present their HIV knowledge to the Faraja staff and caretakers. We started the day with a bit of hiccup. There were about 150 unexpected guests. A nearby school affiliated with Right To Play had been invited to partake in the days activities. I suppose 1 thing that was not taken into consideration was the ambassador's comfortability speaking in front of such a large group. In fact, the event started at 8 am, but none of the ambassadors had shown up by 9am. We thought that they had maybe shown up, seen the crowd, and then run for the hills. It turns out that the ambassadors had just had the time mixed up and showed up at 10 instead. In the end, everything worked out (as it always does here in Tanzania). Dr Lucy, Mama Mrema, and Makho gave some small impromptu presentations on HIV awareness and Stigma. The group of kids were impressively knowledgable on the topic. Then, after all the kids left, the remainder of us stuck around for the ambassador presentations. And boy were they good! Everyone in attendance presented, even though we gave them the option to sit out if they were too nervous. They all spoke clearly and made good eye contact. Only 1 girl read off her paper. They talked about stigma, nutrition, the importance of positive thinking, and peer education... all topics that we had talked about during our workshops. Dr Lucy, the director of Faraja, was very impressed and happy to see how far the ambassadors are coming along. She promised to help the kids with any endeavours they choose to pursue in the future. One of the ambassadors is actualy heading off to study architecture soon (or as he proudly describes it in English: drawing map of house).
After the Faraja event we had planned to go to the Morogoro AIDS Day celebration at the town stadium. However, at the last minute we learned that the event had never been organized. This is the second year in a row that the mayor failed to plan an event for World AIDS day. I was disappointed in the city and I was disappointed that I was unaware of this up until the day of. If we had known before hand, we could have tried to organize something. After doing 2 successful outreach events with the YAM group, we now know that it only takes music and dance to bring people together. And there are so many AIDS and Health related organizations in Morogoro that could have had booths or tables.... sigh.

So with no event to attend in the afternoon, we opted to hop a dala dala and FINALLY check out the Maasai market on the outskirts of town. The dala dala ride was not only the longest ride I've been on, but also the most crammed. I had one guys crotch in my armpit and had another guy sitting on my shoulder. I estimated about 40 people were in that little van. At the Maasai market we picked up some sweet Maasai jewellry. We get comments on it all the time from Maasai men and women. It's traditional jewellery and you don't normally see anybody but Maasai women wearing it. The mama's get quite a hoot out of it.
That night we went to 4 star, a local nightclub. It was a dissappointment. No dance circles, no grinding, no sick dance moves. The only 2 people on the dance floor were dancing with their reflections in the mirror.

December 2 - The day started at 5:30 am. We got ready as the sun rose and the chickens scuttled around on our tin roof. Last weekend in Morogoro, but our first day attending church. As per usual, we were running late. We got the dala dala in town, but we weren't quite sure where to get off. At one stop, we heard somebody yell "CONDA" from outside (Conda= conductor). Sure enough, there was Irene all dressed up in her matching 2 piece katanga dress. She never wears traditional clothing so I was a little taken aback! She looked so good! The church service included singing, sermons, guest speeches, and an auction. Yes an auction. They even auctioned off a live rooster.
After church we went back to Irene's to make lunch. We had a delicious sauce with coconut, okra, eggplant, onion, tomato, and carrots. We also got to learn how to make chipati (another item crossed off the bucket list).
Later we went to the market to pick up some food for Alfonso's family. We went into their house to drop it all off. It's an 8 room, shared brick house. There's a different family in each room. Alfonso's family's room has 2 beds, some water buckets, and  tattered and unusable bed net. They were all so happy to have food dropped off. Irene is also going to chat with her mom and about what they can do to build up alfonso's mom's occupational skills. Irene's mom makes fabric, so she may be interested in that too.

Sidenote: December 2nd will forever be remembered as the day my super comfortable haviana flip flops got stolen. RIP.

December 3 - Checked my bank account and realized that 400,000 tsh is missing. Same with Alicia's. Spent time at the bank trying to figure all that out... as if we had time! Problem has still not been resolved...

December 4 - We got picked up at 6am to make our day trip into Dar for playday shopping. The Dar that we saw that day was a heck of a lot different from the Dar we saw at orientation. It was about 10 degrees hotter, much busier, and much louder. We were in a place called Kariako, the central hub for merchants in Tanzania. A lot of people travel to Dar to get their items at wholesale price, then they mark it up to retail value at their personal stores. It took til sun down, but we found presents for all 117 children. Dresses or skirts for girls, jeans and shirts for boys, and underwear for everyone. All of these playday presents, including the car trip to Dar was made possible by Alicia's mom's elementary school in North Van. Her mom put on a bagel sale and raised over $1,000. Some kids even donated their own birthday money. Can't say I would have done the same at that age.
So the Dar day was long, hot, and spent in a lot of traffic. We didn't get home til midnight. We were fortunate that our family had left dinner for us, as we didnt' have a chance to stop for real food on the way home. All we managed to get were some hamburger buns. Just buns.
I also had my cellphone stolen out of my backpack pocket while we were in Kariako. Learned my lesson the hard way. Can't believe how sneaky some people can be.

December 5 - International Volunteers day! We got all the youth groups together for 1 big celebration. YCI is discontinuing its partnership with the organizations in Morogoro, so we really wanted to use this day to celebrate the 7 years that YCI had spent here. We had a chance to share our volunteer experiences both past and present, and we got to hear about how working with YCI has offered so many opportunities that people never thought they would have had. For example, the MC at the UMATI event on November 30th... he never expected to find himelf in an MC role, yet he did a fantastic job. The Girls Club also mentioned that they are confident that they will be able to continue empowering one another in their community to take control over their own health and livelihood. I truly hope that they do.
We also used volunteers day to award certificates to the different groups for all their hard work.
You can actually read more about the day on the YCI blog, here:
http://ycicanada.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/international-volunteer-day-celebrated-tanzanian-style/

December 6 - Twas spent running around like maniacs trying to get the rest of the presents for playday. We went to our favourite stationary shop to pick up counter books, pens, pencils, and notebooks. We wanted to get colouring books too, but they were far too expensive. We then loaded everything into our favourite taxi drivers car (Babu) and transported everything to HBC. We spent the next 8 hours sorting and wrapping all 117 gifts. I took about 10 minutes to work on our Final Activity Report for volunteering.... but I gave up. It was much more fun to decorate and wrap gifts... especially to the tune of christmas music. Got home at midnight again.

December 7 - Irene came over to help us do all our laundry. Clothes have never been so clean. Went on wild goose chase to get calandars printed for Irene and Norbert. We made both of them calandars with picture of our time together. Turns out getting colour printing, let alone good quality colour printing, is quite the hassel. Once we found a place it still took about an hour (with printer problems, ink running out, and paper problems).

December 8 - The long awaited playday!!! We all met bright and early at HBC and got to work with final decorations. We even had a christmas tree! Kids started arriving around 8:30 and by 9:30 the place was bumpin. Kids surprisingly didn't snatch up the extra toys we had sitting under the tree. I don't think they realized that all these fun new toys were intended for them. We spent the next couple hours colouring, reading stories, getting hair braided, practicing heading the soccer ball, and playing keep away. After we were sufficiently worn out, the toys were removed from the courtyard and everybody gathered together. Mama Mrema led in prayer for the 2 children that had passed away since the last play day. She also told everybody that Alicia's mom had raised money at her school in Canada. We all ate a meal of rice, beans, and bananas. And then we got to work handing out the presents. Everybody was delighted with their new clothes and school supplies.
What a great way to spend the christmas holidays.

After playday we had to spend some time working on our final activity report. This thing had been looming over us since Monday. I decided to sit down and review what had already been done while Alicia and Irene headed out to another market to pick up some clothes for Alfonso and some of the other kids in our neighbourhood. The clothes they have are serious need of replacement.

Alicia and I stayed up til about 2am packing our bags that night. At one point I bent down to pick up my bag, but recoiled in horror when I realized that the handle I was reaching for was in fact a gigantic black millipede. After freaking out for a while I decided it was time to go to bed. It's one thing to see a milipede in it's natural habitat... it's another to see it crawling all over your suitcase.

December 9 - Last day in Morogoro. Woke up early to finish packing... After some tearful goodbyes to our family and neighbourhood friends,  we piled into Babus taxi and headed to town. Then I got to cross off my final bucket list item... I went on piki piki ride! Irene and I pikipiki'd to her place to pack her bags... because yes, now she was coming to Dar with us. She said she was going to be bored in Morogoro without us, so she wanted to go to Dar and visit her cousin. Well, one thing led to another, and we eventually coerced Irene into staying at our hotel with us. We just couldn't say goodbye! We got to our hotel around 7pm, then took a bajaji to a local bar to meet up with some of the other volunteers. It was so nice to see them again!

December 10 - Debrief day! Finally finished our activity report.... right on time right? Also got to visit J at the hospital again. She's Norbets friend from Morogoro that we visited a couple weeks ago. At playday we learned that her condition had worsened so she had been tranferred to Dar. We decided to pay her a visit since we were gonna be nearby! Our taxi driver was super helpful and guided us through the gigantic Dar hosptal. There's no main reception service, so eventually we had to check in at the emergency ward and have them review their records from the last few days to see where she was transferred to. After searching through his counter book for a few moments, he finally found her name and directed us to the correct ward.
We found J surronded by friends and family. She seems to be doing well and in even better spirits. She says she like Dar more than Morogoro.... not something you hear very often!

December 11 - Woke up bright and early to take our taxi to the zanzibar ferry. And guess who we couldn't say goodbye to, once again? Alicia and I decided to surprise Irene and bring her along.
Despite the minor obstacle that we faced at the ferry when Irene didn't have any ID, the trip was smooth sailings. Literally. Although I guess it was a little more rocky than your average BC Ferries trip.
Upon arriving in zanzibar, we met our awesome taxi driver, Sayid, and made our way east to our destination: Jambiani. Zanzibar is VERY different from the Tanzania I've known for the last 2 months. I feel like I'm in the Carribean.
Sayid let us stop in the forest along the way to see the red columbus monkeys. After a little bartering, we paid about 20 bucks for all 4 of us to enter. We got a guided walking tour and came within inches of males, females, and babies. We also got to walk through the Mangrove forest, which is a salty swampy area. The trees there have crazy root formations.
After checking into our hotel we ran straight for the water expecting a cool refreshing dip. Instead we were met with a hot tub. I've never been in ocean water so warm. It's 28 degrees celcius and SUPER salty. We spent about 45 minutes just floating there.

December 12- Hey, that's today! We woke up early (what else is new) to go for a dolphin tour. We began our journey at a picturesque fishing cove. Tons of fishermen were out with their Dhow's. Our guide took us out from the shore and told us to jump in. My first view under the water was of 7 or 8 dolphins swirling and playing with one another. They were about 7 feet below me. We spent another 30 minutes in and out of the water, sometimes only inches away from the dolphins. It was unreal.

Spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach and wandering around trying to find local restaurants. After being here for 2 months, we weren't too impressed with the expensive mzungu pricing at our hotel. Also, we want rice, beans, ugali, and spinach! Not mediocre pasta.

And now I'm swinging under a palm tree on a Zanzibari beach. The sky is darker and the stars are brighter than I've ever seen. Cats are passing to and fro. I am literally in paradise. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Adventures with street food

Indian mix... some kind of soup, made with a mango puree, potatos, kasava... cabbage? Who knows.

Kitchen in the background. 

Mishkake! So good

Mishkake and roasted banana

We visit the market a lot! That counts as street food right?

Corn Roast

Pineapple core... from the market.

Coffee pots at coffee corner. Please note the "azam" bag. Azam owns everything over here. Juice, soda, flour, and evidently coffee. 

Coffee corner. Aint your average starbucks

Sweets at coffee corner! Peanut bars 

Maandazi on the Mountain!

Street corn... not what we expected. But I would have it again

Debate

The Girls Club held a debate last Friday!
I was a little nervous about it since their topic was a little complex and I wasn't sure if they really grasped the concept. But any worries I had were washed away as soon as I stepped foot in that classroom. We actually showed up a little too early and ruined the surprise they had waiting for us.  I couldn't believe my eyes! They had re-arranged the classroom and had decorated a podium area for the panel to sit. These girls impress me every day. They take so much pride in what they do. I don't know why I was so worried!
The debate was well structured, and very good points were brought up by both sides. The topic was
"HIV/AIDS affects women more than men because of their economic status".

The pro side argued that women's economic disposition in Tanzanian society puts them at risk of contracting HIV via transactional sex and the like, inability to leave a cheating husband, and sexual abuse in the workplace.
The against side argued that there are other factors that have a greater influence on a woman's risk, such as inability to negotiate condom use, biological factors, and traditional customs.

Sometimes the debate went a little off structure, and instead of stating facts, the girls were stating what they should do, rather than the facts.
i.e anti - "girls are more at risk of HIV infection because it's harder for them to tell their partner to use a condom"
pro - "That's not a good enough excuse! No matter what, girls should always use condoms!"

While these statements are obviously not part of a typical debate, it was great to hear the girls empowering one another to insist upon condom use... or, as per another instance, support themselves through meaningful work.

I was left beaming after the debate. I'm so proud of these girls!

Tomorrow we are doing another event with the UMATI YAM group. It's an outreach event that's meant to be a part of the World AIDS Day festivities. The girls club will be joining the event and playing a soccer match vs the UMATI team.
The girls only just got soccer cleats, so they haven't had much practice. But it should be a blast regardless. The girls voted that Irene and I should play striker, while Alicia helps out in the net with another girl (I'm going to try to convince YAM that we should be allowed a handicap of 2 goalies).

The Debate Topic written in Swahili for the audience to read
"HIV affects women more than men because of their economic status"

Awarding prizes for the girls who participated most, with the most convincing arguments. We bought kangas, CDs, and stationary supplies to give out. Kangas are Tanzanian style sarongs that most girls and women wear.

The crew (sans Alicia and Norbert... they couldn't make it because they had to meet with the UMATI group)

Showing off the kanga prize

Reviewing the debate discussion and adding some important points about biological factors (a woman's vagina is more prone to small tears, so the likelihood that the HIV virus can enter her body during unprotected sex with an infected partner is increased)

Crash-course in soccer positions. I went with the ol' 4-4-2

Maasai and More

Saturday was such a fun day!

We started our day at Home Based Care working with the ambassadors. Only 2 people showed up which was an unusually low number. We worked on some presentation skills and went over their presentation skills, since they will be presenting to the Faraja staff and their caretakers on World Aids Day.

After that, Alicia, Norbert, Irene and I headed to a local private hospital called Saint Mary’s. Norbert wanted to introduce us to J, a friend of his that is currently ill with pneumonia. He also wanted to show us around Saint Marys since it’s the hospital that Faraja sends HBC kids to. Faraja uses a private hospital because the kids receive better care and aren’t as stigmatized by the public.

The hospital is incomparable to hospitals in Canada, so I’m not exactly sure how to describe it. It’s a small complex with a reception area up front and a few private hospital rooms in the back. J is staying in a 2-bed room. Luckily she was on her own so we weren’t disturbing any other patients during our visit. Norbert and Alicia had also visited J yesterday. They said that she was in considerably better spirits today, which was good. We were also able to bring a little care package along…  some mango juice, a nice light shawl/scarf, some Canadian Souvenirs, and an english-swahili book to tide her over when she doesn’t have visitors. Our visit was spent joking around, taking silly pictures, and lounging out into the courtyard. It was a nice visit and I hope to see her again! She’s such a sweet girl.

After that we boarded a dala dala and made our way to the outskirts of Morogoro to visit Irene’s Maasai friend. He actually works in town as a security guard in town, so he met us half way and took the dala dala with us all the way to his village (Maasai are known as fierce warriors, so they are highly coveted security guards).

 After being dropped by our bus, we walked for about 10 minutes until we reached 3 small mud houses. The Maasai ladies that met us there brought out a cow hide for us to sit on… they tried telling us it was lion skin. I’m glad they had a sense of humour! We lounged in the shade for a while, already tired from the hot sun. After that, Alicia and Irene headed off with one of the mamas to start preparing food. I lounged for a little longer, but eventually meandered over to check out the process. Mama was preparing food inside her house over a simple wood fire. The house was a 2 room bungalow comprised of a kitchen and bedroom.

The onions and tomatos were cut, so all that was left to do was make the ugali. Ugali is made with corn flour and water. You boil the water and slowly whisk in flour until it’s thick. After that, you spoon the mixture out into a bowl and let it harden.

Outside, the other mama started cooking the spinach, onion, and tomato mixture. While that simmered away, we sat with the mamas as they fed their babies breast milk and porridge. Their interactions with their babies were the most loving that I've seen so far on my trip. They were playing around with them, making faces.... something that I really haven't seen much of between mother and child. Even Lamweli got in there and played around with the kids. An even rarer sight!

Once dinner was ready, we all sat down all together and dug into our meal. Even the chickens got something to eat.

By about 6:00 we realized it was time to get going. We were invited to Mama Mrema’s birthday so we had to make it back to town in time for dinner! Edna said that she hasn’t been home for her moms birthday in several years, so she wanted to make sure this one was special. And special it was! Edna, Mama’s niece, and house girl, Winifred, had been cooking all day to create a special birthday feast. It was delicious and I was so happy that we got to be a part of that special occasion.

As usual, we got to talking about the differences between Canada and Tanzania. Marriage, education, child abuse… oh you know, the usual. I love having these conversations!

So yesterday was probably one of my favourite days so far. That and our trip to Arusha last weekend!

Alicia preparing for motherhood

So thirsty

Preparing the tomatoes

This baby did NOT like white people

Cooking ugali

Porridge

These houses only make 2 weeks to make!

Maasai lunch

Getting clubbed for dinner

!!!!!!

Jumping Maasai

Mama's homemade birthday cake! Best cake I've had in Tanzania!